USS Avocet (AVP-4)

Last updated

H97396.jpg
USS Avocet in foreground during the Attack on Pearl Harbor. USS Nevada is in the background, with a large American flag on her stern.
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
BuilderBaltimore Drydock and Shipbuilding Co.
Cost$766,914 (hull and machinery) [1]
Laid down13 September 1917
Launched9 March 1918
Commissioned
  • 17 September 1918
  • 8 September 1925
Decommissioned10 December 1945
Reclassified AM-19 to AVP-4 8 September 1925
Stricken3 January 1946
Honours and
awards		Avocet (AVP-4) earned one World War II battle star for her participation in the defense of the fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941
FateSold to the Construction and Power Machine Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., on 12 December 1946 for use as a hulk.
General characteristics
Class and type Lapwing-class minesweeper
Displacement840 tons (853 tonnes) as AVP-4
Length187 ft 10 in (57.25 m)
Beam35 ft 5 in (10.80 m)
Draught15 ft (4.6 m)
PropulsionTriple Reciprocating engine
Speed14 kn
Complement75
Armament2 × 3"/50 caliber guns
ArmorNone

USS Avocet (AM-19/AVP-4) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper initially acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

Contents

Avocet was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard, on 17 September 1918, as a minesweeper. [2] Recommissioned on 8 September 1925 as a small seaplane tender, USS Avocet (AVP-4) was present during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941. The ship survived the war, and was sold as a hulk on 6 December 1946. [2] In June, 1937 USS Avocet carried a science team to Canton Island (in the Phoenix Islands, midway between Hawaii and Fiji, at the time a British Protectorate) for the total solar eclipse. There, the Avocet and HMS Wellington, carrying a British science team, fired shots across each other's bows in a dispute over the choice anchorage of the island which the Americans, arriving first, had claimed. The dispute was quickly smoothed over at the highest levels in both governments.

Avocet's role in the Attack on Pearl Harbor

At about 07:45 on Sunday, 7 December 1941, Avocet's security watch reported Japanese planes bombing the seaplane hangars at the south end of Ford Island and sounded general quarters. Her crew promptly brought up ammunition to her guns and the ship opened fire. The first shot from Avocet's starboard 3 in (76.2 mm) gun scored a direct hit on a Nakajima B5N2 ("Kate") carrier attack plane that had just scored a torpedo hit on the battleship USS California, moored nearby. The "Kate", from the aircraft carrier Kaga's air group, caught fire, slanted down from the sky, and crashed on the grounds of the naval hospital, one of five such planes lost by Kaga that morning. [2]

Initially firing at torpedo planes, Avocet's gunners shifted their focus to dive bombers attacking ships in the drydock area at the beginning of the forenoon watch. Then, sighting high altitude bombers overhead, they shifted their fire again. Soon afterwards five bombs splashed in a nearby berth, but none exploded. [2]

From her veritable ringside seat, Avocet then witnessed the sortie of the battleship USS Nevada, the only ship of her type to get underway during the attack. Seeing the dreadnought underway, after clearing her berth astern of the burning battleship USS Arizona, dive-bomber pilots from Kaga singled her out for destruction, 21 planes attacking her from all points of the compass. Avocet's captain, Lieutenant William C. Jonson Jr., marveled at the Japanese precision, writing later that he had never seen "a more perfectly executed attack." Avocet's gunners added to the barrage to cover the battleship's passage down the harbor. [2]

Although the ship ceased fire at 10:00, much work remained in the wake of the devastating surprise attack. She had expended 144 rounds of 3 in (76.2 mm) and 1,750 of .30 in (7.62 mm) ammunition in the battle against the attacking planes, and had suffered only two casualties: a box of ammunition coming up from the magazines had fallen on the foot of one man, and a piece of flying shrapnel had wounded another. Also during the course of the action, a sailor from the small seaplane tender USS Swan, unable to return to his own ship, had reported on board for duty, and was immediately assigned a station on a .30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun. [2]

Oil from ruptured battleship fuel tanks had been set afire by fires on those ships, and the wind, from the northeast, was slowly pushing it toward Avocet's berth. Accordingly, the seaplane tender got underway at 10:45, and moored temporarily to the magazine island dock at 11:10, awaiting further orders which were not long in coming. At 11:15, she was ordered to help quell the fires still blazing on board California. She spent 20 minutes fighting fires on board the battleship with the submarine rescue ship USS Widgeon, and was then directed to proceed elsewhere.

Leaving California at 12:15, she reached the side of Nevada 25 minutes later, ordered to assist in beaching the battleship and fighting her fires. Mooring to Nevada's port bow at 12:40, Avocet went slowly ahead, pushing her aground at channel buoy no. 19, with fire hoses led out to her forward spaces and her signal bridge. For two hours, Avocet fought Nevada's fires, and succeeded in putting them out. [2]

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Nevada</i> (BB-36) Dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy

USS Nevada (BB-36), the third United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships. Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the "all or nothing" armor principle. These features made Nevada, alongside her sister ship Oklahoma, the first US Navy "standard-type" battleships.

USS <i>Williamson</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Williamson (DD-244/AVP-15/AVD-2/APD-27) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Commander William Price Williamson.

USS <i>Wasmuth</i> Clemson-class destroyer

USS Wasmuth (DD-338/DMS-15) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I.

USS <i>Hulbert</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Hulbert (DD-342/AVD-6) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for Henry Hulbert.

USS <i>William B. Preston</i> Clemson-class destroyer

USS William B. Preston (DD-344/AVP-20/AVD-7) was a United States Navy Clemson-class destroyer in commission from 1920 to 1934. After conversion into a seaplane tender, she again was in commission from 1939 to 1945, seeing action during World War II. She was named for United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Senator William B. Preston.

USS <i>San Pablo</i> (AVP-30) Tender of the United States Navy

USS San Pablo (AVP-30) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender which was in commission as such from 1943 to 1947 and then served as a commissioned hydrographic survey ship, redesignated AGS-30, from 1948 to 1969. Thus far, she has been the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for San Pablo Bay, a shallow northern extension of San Francisco Bay in California.

USS <i>Heron</i> (AM-10) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Heron (AM-10) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

USS <i>Thrush</i> (AM-18) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Thrush (AM-18) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

USS <i>Swan</i> (AM-34) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

The first USS Swan (AM-34/AVP-7) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy.

USS <i>Sandpiper</i> (AM-51) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Sandpiper (AM-51) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper. Laid down on 15 November 1918 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 28 April 1919, USS Sandpiper was commissioned on 9 October 1919, redesignated AM-51 on 17 February 1920, and reclassified as a Small Seaplane Tender, AVP-9 on 22 January 1936.

USS <i>Onslow</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Onslow (AVP-48) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1960.

USS <i>Yakutat</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Yakutat (AVP-32) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. Yakutat tended seaplanes in combat areas in the Pacific during the latter stages of World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1948 to 1971 as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Yakutat (WAVP-380), later WHEC-380, seeing service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career. Transferred to South Vietnam in 1971, she was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy as the frigate RVNS Trần Nhật Duật (HQ-03). When South Vietnam collapsed in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, she fled to the Philippines, where the Philippine Navy took custody of her and cannibalized her for spare parts until discarding her in 1982.

USS <i>Oyster Bay</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Oyster Bay (AGP-6), originally and later AVP-28, was a United States Navy motor torpedo boat tender in commission from 1943 to 1946. She saw service in World War II.

USS <i>Barnegat</i> (AVP-10) Tender of the United States Navy

The second USS Barnegat (AVP-10), in commission from 1941 to 1946, was the lead ship of her class of small seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just before and during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship to bear that name.

USS <i>Half Moon</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Half Moon (AVP-26) was a seaplane tender that in commission in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 that saw service in the latter half of World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378), later WHEC-378, from 1948 to 1969, seeing service in the Vietnam War during her Coast Guard career.

USS <i>Barataria</i> (AVP-33) Tender of the United States Navy

The second USS Barataria (AVP-33) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. She saw service in the later stages of World War II and was decommissioned postwar. She then was transferred to the United States Coast Guard and was in commission as the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Barataria (WAVP-381), later WHEC-381 from 1949 to 1969, serving in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War during her lengthy Coast Guard career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Base Ulithi</span> Major World War 2 base in Caroline Islands

Naval Base Ulithi was a major United States Navy base at the Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea during World War II. The base was built to support the island-hopping Pacific War efforts of the Allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan. In terms of the number of ships at one base, Naval Base Ulithi was the largest naval base in the world in 1944 and 1945, with over 600 ships at times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Base Eniwetok</span> Major US Navy Base in the Marshall Islands

Naval Base Eniwetok was a major United States Navy base located at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, during World War II. The base was built to support the island-hopping strategy used by allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan in the Pacific War. During 1944-5 Eniwetok was one of the busiest naval bases in the world with over 488 ships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Base Kossol Roads</span> Former major US Navy Base

Naval Base Kossol Roads also called Naval Base Kossol Passage was a major United States Navy base at Kossol Roads in northern Palau in the western Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean during World War II. Kossol Roads lagoon is surrounded by fringing coral reef. The base was built to support the island hopping Pacific War efforts of the allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan. In terms of the number of ships at one base, Naval Base Kossol Roads was one of the largest Naval Base in the world in 1944 and 1945. Naval Base Kossol Roads was unique, as it was the only large US Naval base to have no shore facilities. Kossol Roads was part of US Naval Base Carolines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Base Hawaii</span> World War II Bases in Territory of Hawaii

Naval Base Hawaii was a number of United States Navy bases in the Territory of Hawaii during World War II. At the start of the war, much of the Hawaiian Islands was converted from tourism to a United States Armed Forces base. With the loss of US Naval Base Philippines in Philippines campaign of 1941 and 1942, Hawaii became the US Navy's main base for the early part of the island-hopping Pacific War against Empire of Japan. Naval Station Pearl Harbor was founded in 1899 with the annexation of Hawaii.

References

  1. ↑ "Table 21 – Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 762. 1921.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Avocet I (Minesweeper No. 19)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships . Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.